By developing – and deploying – enterprise-wide print strategies now, businesses can over time, through the eight methodical steps, make a positive impact on the environment and their bottom line.
Texas Politician Rick Green had this signature witticism, ‘"That’s Green, like money!" Being "green," of course, also refers to corporate programs launched to help organizations be environmentally proactive.
What Green – and many businesses today – may not know, is that both initiatives (the environment and your bottom line) can be achieved simultaneously through a series of Printing Best Practices.
Too often, paper and toner are wasted. Prints get left on the tray untouched. Print jobs aren’t routed to the appropriate device for cost-effectiveness. Policies that could both reduce carbon footprint and cut wasteful habits don’t make their way into organization’s modus operandi.
According to Smallbiztrends, Almost two thirds, or 64 percent, of small businesses can’t track how much their print devices cost them nor can they track their usage. By developing – and deploying – enterprise-wide print strategies now, businesses can over time, through the eight methodical steps, make a positive impact on the environment and their bottom line.
8 Smart Steps to Give Green, Get Green:
Step 1: Start Conserving Energy Now.
Choose ENERGY STAR qualified devices and make use of energy-saving features like “Quick Start” and “Energy Save” that reduce warm-up time and minimize power consumption.
Step 2: Be Discerning about How You Print.
Preview documents before printing, use image combination modes and set device defaults to duplex printing to print on both sides – it can cut your paper and toner consumption by 50%!
Solutions like Papercut’s “Find-me” Printing enables users to print to a global virtual que; jobs are paused and only printed when the user releases the job at any compatible MFP or printer.
Finally, You can only manage what you measure. If you don’t do so already, deploying a robust print management tool can provide you full visibility on printer activity and – more importantly – ways that efficiency can be improved.
Step 3: Implement a Recycling Program – Or Utilize Your Provider’s.
Get in the habit of recycling toner cartridges, used paper, etc. Speak with your office equipment partner about what recycling programs they currently offer, and how you can participate.
Step 4: Migrate to Digital Workflows.
Did you know: According to the 2019 Intelligent Information Management Benchmark Report, 46 percent surveyed say it’s challenging and time-consuming to find documents they need.
Leverage technology to scan and convert paper into electronic documents you can read, send and store digitally in a manner that’s easily searchable across all appropriate parties. Save both paper and time!
Step 5: Suspend Current Printer Acquisitions.
After identifying a managed print partner, suspend the procurement of new equipment before you begin developing a managed print strategy.
Step 6: Discover Your Print Environment.
Identify print devices, print usage, print applications and hidden print costs through a thorough discovery process.
Step 7: Manage a Print Strategy.
Develop/deploy a print strategy, consolidate print responsibilities, outsource fleet management and manage print expenses. With solutions such as Papercut MF, organizations can gain full visibility of device activity from anywhere with browser-based admin tools, and can reduce print costs by allocating printing to departments, cost centers and users with shared accounts.
Step 8: Optimize Your Print Assets.
With the right tools in place, your organization, with the help of a reputable technology partner, can begin to optimize fleet deployment, streamline workflow, minimize your carbon footprint and improve total cost of ownership.
Give Green. Get Green.
Is your team ready to take the next steps toward a more sustainable path? Our Discovery and Print Management methodologies have green written all over them, helping you reclaim bottom-line profitability through efficient print usage, while embracing environmental responsibility with every day business processes.
Want to learn more? Get started with your Print Assessment Today!
